by Alicia Rades
23
Lauren’s thoughts played in my mind.
I didn’t plan this. It’s not something I came to Minnesota to do. All I wanted was to pay my respects to the father of my child. I wasn’t even supposed to be here. It was practically sheer luck that the obituary made its rounds on social media and far enough through my connections that I even heard about Scott’s death. I wasn’t invited to the funeral, but I found my way in anyway. I hid myself in the back of the room where the family wouldn’t notice me.
Only after I sat down did I realize the guy I’d sat next to was Scott’s brother, Jeff. I wasn’t quite sure because I’d never met him, but he fit the description. I noticed he was sitting alone, which made sense based on everything Scott had told me over the years. I shifted nervously at first, but if Jeff was anything like Scott talked about him years ago, then he wasn’t exactly on speaking terms with the rest of the family, so I knew he wouldn’t rat me out, not that he had any idea who I was.
I tried not to cry during the funeral. I’d done enough crying over the past few months. But then I saw her.
Penny, I thought.
Somewhere in the back of my mind, a voice was telling me that the little girl sitting at the front of the room wasn’t my daughter, but I couldn’t fight the feeling that she needed me just as much as Penny did. And I had failed Penny.
Was this the second chance I’d been praying for?
The little girl turned around in her seat. I caught a glimpse of her profile, and my breath caught in my throat. Her eyes were darker than Penny’s, a deep chocolate brown instead of hazel. Her hair was shorter, too, but it fell to her shoulders in the same shade that Penny’s did. Those freckles. I could swear they were set in the exact same pattern as Penny’s were.
I couldn’t help but watch her while the funeral service continued. Tears pricked at my eyes when I thought about Scott’s death, but they started falling—and I quickly dashed them away—when I saw the little girl who reminded me so much of my own daughter. When the service was over, my eyes were still fixed on her. I noticed the woman she’d been sitting next to was talking with a few other guests. She didn’t even acknowledge the little girl.
I could do so much better, I thought. This time, I won’t let Penny die.
The thought only crossed my mind for a second. I knew there was something off about the idea, but I still couldn’t take my eyes off the little girl. The more I looked at her, the more she morphed into Penny in my mind. Penny had been gone for so long. All I knew was that I had to get her back and keep her safe this time. Something shifted inside of me—something I couldn’t quite pinpoint—when I made this decision. Penny was always at the forefront of my mind, but now she became the sole focus of everything that I almost forgot why I was here.
When I found myself parked in front of a house I didn’t recognize, I was dazed. It was dark outside, so I knew time had passed since the funeral, but I couldn’t place where I’d been or what had happened in the past few hours. I didn’t know how I got there or what I was doing. I looked around frantically as my body adjusted to the situation. I knew I was sitting in my own vehicle. The driver’s seat was familiar, and the moon glowed off the maroon hood.
I looked further past my vehicle and noticed that I was in a residential area, but I didn’t recognize the place. My eyes fixed upon the house I was parked in front of. It had orange lights strung around the doorway and lit jack-o-lanterns on the stoop. It didn’t look familiar in the slightest. I took in the details of all the other houses along the street. At first, my gaze shifted past the house across the street, but then I noticed a black vehicle sitting in the driveway. I knew I’d seen it before, but I wasn’t sure where. A quick memory flashed back in my mind, and a little part of me knew I’d followed it here.
I continued to eye the house and wondered why I was here. That’s when I saw her again. The young girl passed in front of the window, and my breath all but ceased.
“Penny,” I said out loud.
I opened my car door and stood on the pavement. When I looked back, I saw a woman pass by the window, too. She never noticed me sitting outside her house.
I can’t go in there now, I thought.
I sat back in my car, wondering what I was going to do to save my little girl. I had to get Penny back. She’d been away for so long. Is that why I was here? To get my daughter back? It felt too much like fate to turn back now.
The air was chill in the car after opening the door. I grabbed my hoodie from beside me on the seat and slipped it on. I didn’t know exactly what I was doing. I wasn’t even thinking. I stayed in the car for another hour watching the house. The light in the living room turned off, and another one flipped on at the other side of the house. I watched the woman pass by the window a few times in her nightgown, and then she shut the light off again.
I waited another hour to make sure she was asleep. I knew I had to get to Penny as soon as I could, but if I was going to get away with her and bring her back home to Florida, I had to be patient.
I flipped my hood up when I got out of the car to shield my body from the chilly night air. The sleeves fell to my fingertips, so I balled them into my fists. I walked around the corner of the house and peeked in the windows. It wasn’t easy to see inside, but there was enough moonlight that I could make out each room.
I stopped when I came across a room I was sure was Penny’s. A nightlight enveloped the room in a soft hue. The walls were pink, and there was a collection of teddy bears in one corner.
Of course, I thought. Penny always loved her teddy bears.
I noticed a small lump on the bed.
Penny! I almost shouted, but I kept my mouth shut.
I pressed my cloaked hands against the window and stared into the room. All I knew was that I had to get to her, but I wasn’t completely sure how. I could try the front door. I could break the window.
I pushed away from the glass in exasperation, and to my surprise, the window moved. It was only so slightly, but it was enough to tell me that it wasn’t locked. I had found my way to Penny. I fit through the window easily. For a moment, I just looked around the room again, and then I stared at the girl.
What am I doing? a voice in the back of my mind asked. But then I looked at her face. I really looked at it, and I knew she needed me. Knowing there was another woman in the next room, I figured it best not make any noise.
A moment later, I had my hand clamped down around Penny’s mouth. I pressed a finger to my lips to let her know to be quiet. I knew she would. After all, she was my little girl. I hugged her close to me, and she wrapped her arms around my neck. I finally had my little girl back.
I crawled back through the window I came in from and used one hand—still shoved in my hoodie for warmth—to pull it down and press it shut. I set Penny in the passenger seat of my vehicle and then crossed around to my side of the car. I was so happy to have my daughter back.
My dream appeared to fast forward though the events of the next few weeks, and I caught glimpses of Lauren and Hope in my mind. The images slowed when Hope asked to play at the park and Lauren reluctantly agreed. A few hours passed through my mind in a second and then slowed again when I saw myself through Lauren’s eyes standing on her front deck. Days flew by in a few short moments, and then the images regressed to normal speed and fell upon a yellow house just as small as Lauren’s.
***
I sat up straight in bed and gasped for air. I was partially relieved to know why Lauren took Hope and that it wasn’t in malice that she did so. I knew she hadn’t, and didn’t intend to, hurt her. Most of my relief, however, came from the fact that I now knew where Lauren took Hope. I didn’t know who the yellow house belonged to, but I somehow knew this was where Lauren took Hope after she destroyed our car.
Light gently seeped in the porch windows, and I could hear voices in the kitchen. I leapt from my bed and excitedly entered the kitchen. “Teddy,” I practically shouted.
He looked up exp
ectantly from the newspaper he was reading.
My eyes shifted from Teddy to my mom and then to Gail, who was tending to breakfast by the stove. “Can I, uh, talk to you two in private?” I asked, looking between my mom and Teddy.
They exchanged a glance and then rose from the table and followed me onto the porch that served as my guest room. “Did you find out anything about Hope?” I asked Teddy once my mom shut the door behind us.
Teddy’s face fell. “I’m sorry, Crystal. We haven’t found anything more, but it turns out that Lauren was a good lead. After getting her description out, some witnesses recalled seeing her at the funeral. She wasn’t on the guest list, and Melinda didn’t remember seeing her, which is why we didn’t know to look into her to begin with,” he explained. “There wasn’t anything else to connect her to this initially. She hadn’t been in contact with Scott for years. The problem is that the local police have searched her house but didn’t find anything. There’s no indication of where she took Hope or if she’s hurting her or anything. There haven’t been any reports matching her license plate number, either.”
“That’s great!” I said, but I didn’t mean it in that way. Both my mom and Teddy fixed a look of confusion on their faces. “I mean, I know where she is now. I don’t know how, but I do. And it’s on our way home!”
Like the last time, I couldn’t pinpoint an address. I had to physically go there if I was to find it.
“We have to go get her,” I told them. “I mean, we’re headed home today anyway.” I wanted to hate Lauren for taking Hope, but a part of me felt her pain. “And we have to help Lauren,” I added.
24
I never knew how I knew it, but I was able to tell Teddy where to go. Within a few hours, we were pulling up in front of a small yellow house along a one-way street.
Who lives here? I wondered. And why would Lauren bring Hope here?
Teddy stopped the car in front of the house but on the opposite side of the street. He looked back at me from the driver’s seat. “Remember, we do this my way. Andrea and I will ask questions. You stay here.”
I knew Teddy had already mentioned this, but my jaw still dropped in disbelief. My mother got to go with him, but I didn’t? But this was my responsibility. I was the one who was supposed to rescue Hope. My heart dropped knowing I wasn’t going to be a part of it, but the rational part of me was just glad Hope would be safe whether I was in the midst of the action or not. Teddy gave me a serious look, and I quickly agreed that I would stay put.
“I hope you have your hand cuffs,” I said before he exited the car. I was only half joking, but he shot back a knowing smile that told me that he had them on him. I didn’t even know if he could arrest someone here, but that didn’t matter to me when Hope needed rescuing.
Teddy and my mom exited the car together. I glanced over at Robin. His eyes were closed, and his chest rose and fell slowly. I almost thought about waking him and telling him we were here, but he looked so peaceful. I didn’t want to disturb him.
I watched out Robin’s window and hardly noticed I was holding my breath as Teddy knocked on the door. It felt like time stood still, waiting for something to happen. Teddy pounded on the door again. The anticipation was killing me, but after several long minutes—or at least what felt like it—the door swung open, and a woman with dark hair and olive skin stood behind it. She must have been in her 30s, but I didn’t recognize a thing about her. I didn’t know what I was expecting—maybe Lauren or someone who looked enough like her to be her relative, or perhaps a male who could have been her boyfriend—but when I caught a glimpse of the woman, the pieces of the puzzle just didn’t fit right.
My heart sank in my chest. Was this another mistake? Why was it that every time I felt close to Hope, something happened that only pushed me further away? I was sure Teddy was going to be furious that I’d led him on the wrong path again. Never again would I hear him say he trusted my judgement.
Just as I watched Teddy flash his badge, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I didn’t want to respond, but the vibrations continued. The only person who ever called me was Emma, so I answered it.
“Hello?” I answered quietly, careful not to wake Robin. My gaze never shifted from the front door of the yellow house.
“Crystal,” Emma breathed a sigh of relief as if she had been holding her breath. Something in her tone hinted at urgency, leaving my body frozen in fear.
“Emma, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. Are you?”
“What do you mean? Of course I’m okay. Why do you sound so terrified?”
“I just—I guess it’s nothing. I just got a really bad feeling. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“A bad feeling? About me?”
“Yeah. You’re not near a white garage, are you?”
“What?” I didn’t quite understand where she was going with this. I glanced up and down the street. The houses were all so colorful here. “No, no white garage.”
“Good. I’m just getting a bad feeling about a white garage. Just don’t go into it, okay?”
“Uh . . . okay. I don’t imagine that I will, but thanks for the warning.” My eyes stayed locked on the woman’s porch. She stepped out onto it and closed the door behind her. I saw lips moving but didn’t know what they were saying—probably Teddy just asking routine questions. I needed to pay closer attention. I needed to know what was going on, to see if there was any hint in the woman’s words that told me why I was sent here. “I have to go, Emma. I’m kind of in the middle of something really important.”
“Okay. Just be careful.”
“I’ll be fine, Emma. You don’t have to worry about me.”
We said goodbye and hung up. I really wanted to know what was happening on the porch. I slowly climbed over the middle console and crawled into the passenger seat. I knew my mom had an extra key to Teddy’s car, so I quickly dug it out of her purse and stuck the key in the ignition just enough to roll my window down a crack in hopes of making out some of the conversation on the porch.
When I turned back to look at the house, I saw it. The corner of a white garage peeked out from the side of the yellow house. It was tucked far back from the street, but it was the only white garage I noticed. I could hear the voices on the porch now, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. My pulse quickened, and my eyes locked on the white building situated behind the woman’s house.
Emma knew it was going to be there. She warned me about it. That meant it was important somehow. And I knew exactly how. Hope was in that garage. Those long moments the woman took getting to the door must have been spent sneaking Hope out of the house. I may not have believed it myself if I didn’t feel it in my bones. I knew Hope was close, and something about the garage called out to me.
I didn’t process what I was doing when I slid out of the vehicle. The promise I’d just made to Emma moments before didn’t even register in my mind while I moved. Teddy’s and my mom’s eyes were on the woman while her own gaze stared in the opposite direction down the street from me. Nobody saw me slink around the side of the house next door and double back through that person’s back yard. I couldn't explain what possessed me to sneak to the garage on my own. It was as if my abilities were drawing me in and the rational part of me all but ceased to exist.
I stayed low as I approached a window on the side of the garage. My heart pounded against my chest in preparation to face the unknown. I pressed my back against the side of the garage and peeked into the window. For a brief moment, everything within my body froze. A small figure was curled up in a chair near the far side of the garage. Her knees were pulled to her chest and held tightly by her arms.
My nervous system went into overdrive. I recoiled from the window and rested my head on the side of the building, forcing my heart to slow and my breathing to normalize. I had found her. I’d finally found Hope, and she was sitting mere feet away from me with nothing but a wall to separate us.
I glanced back into
the window, careful to keep my face as hidden as possible. I knew for sure that the girl sitting there was Hope. I scanned the room but didn’t see anyone else. My eyes darted toward the porch, but no one could see me from here. I was clear. If I took my chance now, I could get Hope out of there and away from the situation quickly, and Teddy would be able to handle the rest.
I didn’t give it another thought. I knew it was something I had to do. It was now or never. I held my breath and scanned the area cautiously while I circled around to the side door. As I passed another window, I quickly checked again that Hope was alone. The best I could tell, she was. A mixture of emotions overcame me, sending my heart pounding and my hands shaking.
I nervously gripped the door handle but couldn’t wait another moment. I rushed into the room and immediately over to Hope. She saw me instantly, and her eyes lit up.
“Hope!” I called, hurriedly crossing the garage to her corner. Her arms reached out toward me, and I swooped her up, cradling her in my embrace. I was ready to explain to her who I was and that I was there to save her, but I didn’t have a chance before she spoke.
“Crystal!” she exclaimed excitedly.
My whole body tensed for a brief moment, but there wasn’t time to ask her how she knew my name. All I knew was that I had to get out of there and back to the car before anyone realized I was missing from it. It hadn’t even occurred to me to worry about where Lauren was right now. For all I knew, she had dropped Hope off here and left. The desire to get Hope to safety consumed me.
Hope and I pulled away from our embrace and gripped each other’s hands. I didn’t even get a chance to turn around before witnessing the terror fixed in Hope’s eyes. Before she could shout a warning, something hard cracked into my skull. I crashed to the ground, and my vision went black in response to the ache pulsing through my head. The world swayed around me, and I couldn’t make sense of which way was up and which way was down.